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Snowpack in the Colorado River basin to be 122% of normal; extra water for Lake Mead will mean lake level will only drop 5 feet (instead of 11 feet)

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on April 15, 2008 at 6:40 am

From the Las Vegas Review Journal, the good news that due to the generous snowpack, runoff in the Colorado Basin is expected to be 122% of normal, and due to the new federal guidelines, more water will be headed to Lake Mead from Lake Powell. However:

Though the additional water is more than double Nevada’s annual share of the Colorado River, it won’t be enough to keep Lake Mead water levels from dropping over the next eight months. That’s because 8.9 million acre-feet of water will flow into the lake this year and 9.5 million acre-feet will flow out to supply Nevada, California, Arizona and Mexico.

The Las Vegas Valley pulls 90 percent of its water from the reservoir, but Nevada’s annual share of the Colorado is the smallest by far among the seven Western states that draw from the river.

Instead of dropping 11 feet by the end of the year, Lake Mead now is projected to fall about 5 feet, thereby reaching its lowest level since May 1965. “We’re certainly glad to see it’s going to be better than projected,” said Scott Huntley, spokesman for the Southern Nevada Water Authority. “Obviously, that doesn’t mean the drought is over. It’s taken the year off.”

The water level at Lake Mead has plunged nearly 95 feet since 2000.

More from the Las Vegas Review-Journal by clicking here.

April 15, 2008 · Filed Under Colorado River Basin, Drought, Weather & Snowpack, Las Vegas & Nevada

Comments

One Response to “Snowpack in the Colorado River basin to be 122% of normal; extra water for Lake Mead will mean lake level will only drop 5 feet (instead of 11 feet)”

  1. Ray Walker on April 15th, 2008 9:44 am

    When full, Lake Mead has a surface of 158,000 acres. At an evaporation rate of 5 vertical feet per year, evaporation losses are about 750,000 acre feet, which is less than the 1,000,000 acre feet that the new fresh water Source can provide.

    It is rather ironic that the projected LOSS of five (5) vertical feet of water in Lake Mead this year could be ZERO (0) if the new Source was available.

    In about the same amount of time that Lake Mead is predicted to go dry by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego , the excess 1,000,000 acre feet from the non-tributary Source could be accumulated to actually keep Lake Mead FULL ! (That is only one of many options.)

    When FULL, the seventeen turbine-generators at the Lake Mead powerhouse generate a maximum of 2,074 megawatts of hydroelectric power. An average megawatt is the energy produced by the continuous operation of one megawatt of capacity over a period of one year (8,760,000 kilowatt-hours). A megawatt is worth $.05 per KW Hr X 8,760,000 = $438,000/year. Lake Mead averages 1840 megawatts = $ 0.81 Billion/year. Present worth of .8 Billion/year @ 3% interest = $ 26 Billion.

    Strange….that the Bureau of Reclamation, Nevada and the Southern Nevada Water Authority cannot investigate a new fresh water Source that when developed will preserve Lake Mead and not damage the water rights of anyone, anywhere or the environment.

    Maybe the Bureau, Nevada and the Southern Nevada Water Authority are waiting until Lake Mead and its 2000 megawatts of power are gone before they consider investigation a worthwhile endeavor for the people they serve…?

    Ray Walker (Retired Water Rights Analyst) waterrdw@yahoo.com

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